Drew Gurian is a music and portrait photographer based in New York City. For the past five years he has been the first assistant to long-time photojournalist and National Geographic photographer Joe McNally. Last month, Gurian shot the Wakarusa Music Festival, which included running a backstage portrait studio. He used a Leica M9 from BorrowLenses to shoot the event. Read about why Gurian chooses Leica for this work. Music Photography with the Leica M9 by Drew Gurian I’ve been a big fan of Leica rangefinders for the last few years. I own an M6 and am on a wait list for the new ‘M’. For this particular shoot, I really wanted a digital Leica body (the M6 is film) so I picked up a spotless M9 body and 90mm lens from BorrowLenses. Though I shot the festival with a few different cameras, here’s what I love about the Leica: It’s a completely non-intrusive camera system. Waving a DSLR with a 70-200mm lens in front of your subject isn’t exactly a comforting feeling for them. Whether you’re shooting static portraits or street photography (which, in my mind, is what Leicas were made for), I find a noticeable difference in a subject’s mood and energy with a Leica. You’re there with your subject and not hiding behind a massive machine. It’s as simple as a camera can get and Leica’s design hasn’t changed almost at all since the first models came out in the early 1900’s. All of their rangefinders are fully manual focus, almost all lenses are fixed focal lengths, and they’re incredibly sharp. The M9 is much slower than a DSLR (though...

Troy Paiva, AKA Lost America, has been creating light painted night photography in abandoned locations and junkyards since 1989. His documentarian work examines the evolution, and eventual abandonment, of the communities, infrastructure, and social iconography that spawned during America’s 20th century expansion into the cities and deserts of the West. His imagery has appeared in print in over a dozen countries, including three Stephen King book covers, American Photographer, Air & Space Magazine, Hot Rod Magazine, and CNN Online. Troy’s work has appeared in museums and galleries in New York, Los Angeles, Sweden, and San Francisco.

If you like photographing athletes, here is a little inspiration for you from Ian Coble. “Every once in a while I like to put together projects where I have complete creative freedom and can shoot whatever style I ‘m feeling like.” Watch the video below to see the results! Ian Coble : Behind the Scenes : Crossfit from Ian Coble on Vimeo. Interested in trying out some of gear he used on set? Here is what he used: Nikon D800 Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 PocketWizard Flex and Mini Elinchrom Strobes & Modifiers Manfrotto Stands See more of Coble’s work...

ABOUT BARFLY Our Kino Flo BarFly 200D 2-light kits and BarFly 400D 1-light kits are professional, energy-efficient lighting systems ideal for filmmakers and photographers alike. They produce 3200K and 5500K (daylight) temperature lighting from florescent, dimmable 55W lamps inside Kino’s signature modular fixtures. Each bank can be switched on and off for full stop exposure changes. The kits also come with: Gel Frames (2 for the 2-light kit, 1 for the 1-light kit). Note that these kits do NOT come with gels. You will have to apply the gel yourself to the provided gel frame using a non-destructive adhesive (also not included). 90 Degree Grids (2 for the 2-light kit, 1 for the 1-light kit) True Match Quad Fluorescent Lamps with padded mini case. 55QK32 55W KF32 Quad Lamps with padded mini case. Light stands (2 for the 2-light kit, 1 for the 1-light kit). AC Power. Heavy Duty Kino-branded Case. These kits are a fantastic option for those seeking all-in-one kits that produce very natural-looking light that is intuitive to shape because what you see is, generally, what you get. However, they are less intuitive to set up. Please take note of the following tips to prevent bulb breakage and other kit issues. SETTING UP THE BARFLY Kino Flo lamps are aways shipped from BL outside the lamp fixtures to prevent breakage. Inserting lamps into fixture: Insert lamps at a 45 degree angle. It will feel unnatural at first but if you feel any tension at all inserting the lamps, you must restart and try inserting at an extreme angle. They should drop in smoothly. Once down, push the lamps...

Save time while also saving money with our new Photography and Videography Packages. Packages are a convenient way to rent a group of items with 1 click, whether it be a collection of prime lenses or various parts needed for a successful studio lighting setup. Our Street Photography Packages feature mirrorless bodies for their lightweight and inconspicuous (while still stylish) design–great for on-the-go candid shooting. Ben Revzin of ShouldIGetIt.com took three of our Street Photography Packages for a spin to see which set was the most, well, street savvy! See his results in the video review below. The packages reviewed: Street Photography (Compact) Essentials Package – Leica Street Photography (Compact) Essentials Package – Fuji Street Photography (Compact) Essentials Package – Nikon For more reviews on mirrorless systems, be sure to check out Sohail Mamdani’s Op-Ed on the Fuji X100s and his Leica Diary...

Piper Mackay is a world, wildlife, and cultural photographer based in Long Beach, California. Her work is heavily concentrated on the African continent. On one of her recent photographic safaris, Piper and team had an unexpected encounter with an elephant, who approached and poked at a GoPro recording the action from the ground (pictures and a short video below). “On a recent trip to Namibia, we were blessed with the rare sighting of the desert elephants crossing the desert with dramatic landscapes. I had rented a couple of GoPros from Borrowlenses to grab some dynamic footage for a big project I am working on in 2014.” “We were actually on our way to check out a campsite when our guide spotted the elephants in the distance. We could not believe our luck! We lined up our vehicles, grabbed our gear, jumped out and waited. Once they passed we raced to get repositioned. One of us hopped out and got the GoPro down just in time. We never thought the elephant would come right up to the camera and then knock it over with her trunk! She looked at us like she was saying, “Next time I will crush it!” When her companion followed right behind her, we all held our breath as we were sure he was going to crush it. It was a close call but successful!” Here is a short video of what the nearly-crushed GoPro captured. Want to have experiences like this? Join Piper on her next adventure! Check out her list of programs here. Special thanks to Piper Mackay Photography for sharing these images with our...

The FX television series “Wilfred”, starring Elijah Wood, needed to shoot new backing plates for their hit show. Cinematographers take plate shots of empty sets using the same lighting as the final scenes. These “plates” can be used later for special effects. Kurt Jones, Director of Photography, decided to use the new Nikon 28mm 1.8G lens. He needed 13 of them to mount onto 13 Nikon D800 bodies. Borrowlenses.com was able to supply the DP and his television series with the tools they needed. The show shot exterior shots of the character, Ryan’s, house on location in Venice, CA. They then filmed all of the interior shots at a full-sized house that was wrapped in Green Screen on a sound stage at FOX Studios in Los Angeles. The plates are shot of the surrounding neighborhood and composited into the Green Screen during the VFX part of Post Production. Day Plates and Night Plates were photographed over a full day of shooting for Kurt and his crew. Here are some behind-the-scenes photos of the equipment at work. Photos courtesy of Kurt Jones/FX. Season 3 of Wilfred will begin airing on June 20th. Kurt Jones’ work can be found on his site and on his Facebook...

Photographer Benjamin Von Wong set out to the Salton Sea with some dart rope and a crew of chance encounters who were excited to make the trek to help out with this dramatic shoot. Check out the spectacular results below! Luck, Fire, and a Failed Ecosystem by Von Wong Photography, reprinted with permission. Equipment Used Lighting Gear: Profoto B2 Acute PocketWizard Plus III Camera Gear: Sirui Tripod T2205X, sponsored by LOVINPIX Nikon D800E Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 To see more great behind-the-scenes images and some of the technical notes for this shoot, please visit the full Inspired by Fire post HERE. Special thanks to Von Wong Photography for sharing this experience with us! Benjamin Von Wong will be speaking and doing a demo at at Profusion in Toronto on June,...

Upgrading from a point-and-shoot camera to a digital SLR camera can be daunting, especially when you start hearing people carry on about what kind of sensor to get and you have no idea what they are talking about! The following will help you understand sensor size and how it can be a factor in your photography.